Inorganic Salt Interference on CO₂+ in Aerodyne AMS and ACSM Organic Aerosol Composition Studies

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Abstract

Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) and Aerodyne aerosol chemical speciation monitor (ACSM) mass spectra are widely used to quantify organic aerosol (OA) elemental composition, oxidation state, and major environmental sources. The OA CO₂+ fragment is among the most important measurements for such analyses. Here, we show that a non-OA CO₂+ signal can arise from reactions on the particle vaporizer, ion chamber, or both, induced by thermal decomposition products of inorganic salts. In our tests (eight instruments, n = 29), ammonium nitrate (NH₄NO₃) causes a median CO₂+ interference signal of +3.4% relative to nitrate. This interference is highly variable between instruments and with measurement history (percentiles P_10-90 = +0.4 to +10.2%). Other semi-refractory nitrate salts showed 2-10 times enhanced interference compared to that of NH₄NO₃, while the ammonium sulfate ((NH₄)₂SO₄) induced interference was 3-10 times lower. Propagation of the CO₂+ interference to other ions during standard AMS and ACSM data analysis affects the calculated OA mass, mass spectra, molecular oxygen-to-carbon ratio (O/C), and f₄₄. The resulting bias may be trivial for most ambient data sets but can be significant for aerosol with higher inorganic fractions (>50%), e.g., for low ambient temperatures, or laboratory experiments. The large variation between instruments makes it imperative to regularly quantify this effect on individual AMS and ACSM systems.

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